Naushon Island stretches for seven pristine miles, a glittering jewel of land off the coast of Massachusetts where Kerry, under the arcane rules of a Forbes family trust, can spend time each year hunting, sailing, horseback windsurfing, vegging out or whatever else moves him.
The bucolic island is essentially a private Forbes-owned family preserve with a few dozen cottages and a mounted caretaker on patrol to toss off interlopers ? and you can expect to hear more about it as the sharp elbows start flying in Kerry?s presidential race.
The retreat, the largest privately owned island in Massachusetts, seems lifted from a page of ?The Great Gatsby? ? making it prime fodder for Republicans seeking to morph Kerry?s image into a ?Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous? episode.
Kerry uses the island as a showcase when big-foot political journalists like Joe Klein cozy up to write long profiles. The senator hosted the Clintons on Naushon twice back in 1993 and ?94.
Motor vehicles are banned on the island. Horses and antique carriages are the favored modes of transport.
?They?ve got a guy out there on horseback who rides around and guards the island for them,? one gleeful Republican operative, who had obviously done his homework on the island, told me over lunch a few weeks ago.
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